Braght, Thieleman J. van. <em>The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660</em>. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 1024. Available online at: [http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/contents.htm].

Braght, Thieleman J. van. <em>The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660</em>. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 1024. Available online at: [http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/index.htm http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/contents.htm].

Latest revision as of 00:54, 16 January 2017

Lucas Osiander Sr. (1534-1604), a Lutheran divine, the son of Andreas Osiander, court chaplain in 1567, was councillor to Louis, Duke of Württemberg, 1568-93. Osiander took part in the introduction of the Swabian Concordia Formula drawn up by his brother-in-law Jakob Andreae in 1574 (see Formula of Concord), and in disputes with imprisoned Anabaptists in Württemberg. Thus he cross-examined Paul Glock the Hutterite missionary from Moravia, who had been in the Hohenwittlingen prison for 15 years, in the presence of the court chaplain M. Johann Stecher, the pastor of Urach, the Landhofmeister and four councillors of the chancellory, and tried to persuade him that the Anabaptist doctrines on infant baptism, communion, and the oath, and their views on Christian government were "not godly"; but he could not refute the Biblically grounded Anabaptist preacher.

Several years later Osiander published a book in defense of infant baptism, titled Ein Predig Von dem Widertauff. Sampt angehenckter Historien, Welcher gestalt sich die Widertauffer Anno 1534 zu Münster gehalten. Wie selbige geschichten H. Dorpius . . . beschrieben (Tübingen, 1582; in Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen, Indiana, USA). In an opinion on 28 January 1584 he opposed all others at the session by sponsoring gentler treatment of Anabaptists on the ground that there were various wings among them, some erring only in matters of faith, and otherwise obedient to authority (Bossert, 579-581). In his Bauernpostille of 1597 he warns against "bothering rural churches with subtle disputations."

His son Lucas Osiander, Jr. (1571-1638), was professor of theology and from 1620 chancellor of the University of Tübingen. He also published a book against the Anabaptists titled Enchiridion controversiarum quae Augustanae Confessionis Theologis cum Anabaptistis intercedunt (Tübingen, 1605; second edition 1614, in Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen, Indiana, USA).

Braght, Thieleman J. van. The Bloody Theatre or Martyrs' Mirror of the Defenseless Christians Who Baptized Only upon Confession of Faith and Who Suffered and Died for the Testimony of Jesus Their Saviour . . . to the Year A.D. 1660. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1951: 1024. Available online at: http://www.homecomers.org/mirror/contents.htm.